Jesse L. Byock

If there's one thing I took away from this book, it's that Iceland is an outlier. It did not evolve or follow the same cultural patterns as other European nations. Byock describes Iceland's Free State (c. 930s to 1262) as a governing system "without parallel" that emerged independently. "Consensual order worked in Iceland because the country was not burdened with a complex political or social hierarchy. There was no merchant class, and chieftains only retained their power through their show more followers. The public formation of alliances, laws and business, all took place during Althing, and everyone was encouraged to attend. It wasn't a utopia, obviously, but the only time Iceland came close to civil war during this period was after the Christian conversion of neighboring Norway. In this particular scenario, the reader witnesses the power of medieval Icelandic arbitration and compromise. Feuds could be settled with violence, to be sure, but the concept of a king or judge "sentencing" a felon to death did not exist, although one could certainly be exiled.

Prior to reading, I knew next to nothing of Icelandic history, so I'm happy to say this book is very accessible. First published in 1988, it holds up Byock writes as both a historian and an anthropologist, respectfully acknowledging the value of oral history and the sagas. Byock points out that many historians in the past were too quick to dismiss Icelandic sagas, or force them into the mold of classic European literature. That being said, I thought Byock spent too many pages on this particular point. It started to feel like a formal defense and that energy probably could've been spent elsewhere. Beyond that, the book is concise but thorough, and moves swiftly through societal structure, wealth and trade, governance and the arrival of Christianity. show less

Built on the impressive legal documentation extant from the period, as well as on what literature & sagas reliably reveal between the lines, this seminal study - by one of this century's true titans of Norse studies - is one of the rare satisfying accounts of a real-life historical utopia, in this instance medieval Iceland. Satisfying both because the utopia maintains some degree of credibility & standing - & because its limitations are so lucidly exposed.

If you are interested in the Icelandic sagas, this is a great book to read for background information about the society that produced them. Although the characters in the sagas may seem get involved in a lot of feuds with their neighbours, Icelanders believed in using arbitration, compromise and monetary compensation to solve disputes rather than violence and blood feuds.

There were no towns in Iceland and the scattered population lived on farms around the coast and in a few fertile valleys show more inland. The land grew less fertile over the first few centuries due to overgrazing and deforestation, and it was susceptible to 'bad year' economics, i.e. there was no margin for error and they could get by only as long as nothing went wrong. This meant that even the most powerful men couldn't afford to keep large numbers of followers, as the farms would only support a certain number of people, which is the main reason why slavery died out in Iceland by early in the eleventh century.

Chieftains did not have rights over the farmers in a particular geographical area, who were free to choose whose thingman they would be and could change allegiance to another chieftain if they felt their interests would be better served by him. A chieftain gained and influence and land by acting as an advocate in disputes, either representing one side at the courts held at the things, or negotiating an out-of-court settlement before it got that far. Other chieftains acted as 'men of goodwill' to intervene in legal disputes or feuds, and when they turned up with a large band of followers it wasn't in order to use force, it was rather a sign that many people thought the dispute had gone far enough and that it was time for the two sides to reach a compromise.

A fascinating book about the Icelandic 'free state' from the arrival of the settlers in about 870 A.D. until the Norwegians took control in the mid-thirteenth century. There are lots of maps and other illustrations and it includes information the spring and autumn things, the system of courts, the difference between murder and manslaughter, trade with Norway and other foreign countries, the conversion to Christianity and the influence of the Church, marriage, divorce and dowries, the construction of turf houses and why inside latrines were a good idea, all liberally illustrated with examples from the sagas. show less

Read in advance of an upcoming trip to Iceland for some early background; it didn't disappoint. A good, scholarly overview of Iceland's early history, touching on the development of the island's economic, political, legal, social, religious, and cultural systems.